Dirk Nowitzki Becomes 6th Player in NBA History to Reach 50K Minutes

Add another accomplishment to Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki‘s resume.

He became just the sixth player in NBA history to play at least 50,000 minutes when he appeared for seven minutes in Monday’s contest against the Los Angeles Clippers, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com.

MacMahon noted Nowitzki joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (the record holder with 57,446 minutes), Karl Malone, Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd and Elvin Hayes on the list of players to play 50,000 minutes throughout their careers.

One would figure spelling his name would get easier after so many minutes:

He at least caught the eye of a fellow future Hall of Famer in the process:

The accomplishment is a testament to Nowitzki’s incredible durability since he entered the league in 1998 as the No. 9 overall draft pick. The only times he failed to play at least 73 games in his first 19 seasons in the league was the lockout-shortened 1998-99 campaign, the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, 2012-13 (53 games) and 2016-17 (54 games).

He dealt with knee surgery in 2012-13 and Achilles issues last season but has remained largely healthy this season, his 20th in the league.

“I’ve just been fortunate to stay really injury-free for most of my career,” Nowitzki said, per MacMahon. “I’ve had some bumps in the road here and there, but you see what other players go through, so I was very fortunate. That’s a lot of minutes, obviously, especially early on in my career.”

His head coach, Rick Carlisle, reflected on the sheer amount of minutes Nowitzki has played, per MacMahon: “It’s a staggering accomplishment and done with such grace and such little hype that it’s probably very much taken for granted.”

Unfortunately for Nowitzki, his Mavericks likely won’t play in the playoffs this season at 17-36, but he is at least adding to his individual list of accomplishments as someone who has won a league MVP, championship and NBA Finals MVP while being named to 13 All-Star teams and 12 All-NBA teams.

In addition to the minutes, Nowitzki is also in the top six for career points in NBA history and was 518 points behind Wilt Chamberlain for fifth on the all-time list entering play Monday.